


Quality Time (With Your Mother)

by redgoldblue



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: (mostly) Danny PoV, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Fluff, Five Soft and Loving Utter Bastards, Fluff, H50 Big Bang, M/M, Matchmaking, Post-Episode: s10e22 Aloha (Goodbye), Post-Finale, author pretending to know about baseball, i feel i need to disclaim here that there was. a lot of inspo from Set It Up, mentions of most everyone else, ngl half the reason for writing this fic was just, to poke fun at the show for writing them Like That and still pretending they're not together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26099356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redgoldblue/pseuds/redgoldblue
Summary: ~“Clara and Eddie Williams are not sweet. They’re manipulative, conniving, bastards.”“No-one said you can’t be a manipulative conniving bastard and also sweet. In fact, I’m beginning to think it’s a prerequisite to being a Williams.”~When Cath and Steve end up in New Jersey after all, three months after they left, they also end up staying with Clara and Eddie Williams. Danny, outraged by the prospect that his parents might get more Steve time than him, flies out to meet them. The fact that he still hasn't told his parents that he and Steve are together, and is not planning to any time soon, should only be a mild hindrance – that is, until Clara and Eddie decide that they're perfect for each other, and enlist Cath to help them matchmake their already very much in love sons. Oh yes, and they’re all living in the same house. There’s shenanigans on the horizon…
Relationships: Catherine Rollins & Danny "Danno" Williams, Clara Williams & Danny "Danno" Williams, Clara Williams/Eddie Williams, Steve McGarrett & Catherine Rollins, Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 26
Kudos: 104
Collections: H50 Big Bang 2020





	1. Trouble In Juneau

**Author's Note:**

> First up, big thanks to my artist (starlingbite on Tumblr, lasvegas_lights on here - and go read her H50 works next!) and my beta (thomtrebond on Tumblr, dunedinparsley on here, who continues to beta fic for me despite having little to no context for them and only figuring out in the middle of the fic that the brunette ex-military one is Steve and the blonde non-military one is Danny. and that their height difference is insane.)
> 
> Title is from 'Share Your Address' by Ben Platt and playlist for the fic is here ( open.spotify.com/playlist/5lM3pQZhSIuoXjYfktvKBa?si=O-HOt7AwT46DWnfLSISNuw ) - shockingly, there's not many songs out there with the plotline of 'our parents are trying to matchmake us but we're already together' so it's mostly just Vibes. I listened to it a LOT while writing this.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265636473/in/dateposted-public/)

“Williams household.”

Danny pulled the phone slightly away from his ear to frown at it. “Who the fuck is– Steve?”

“Danny!” came the cheerful response.

“What are you doing answering my parents’ phone?”

“They’re out at the shops.”

“No– you _know_ that’s not what I mean, moron. What are you doing in Jersey at all? I talked to you two days ago and you were in Alaska and said _nothing_ about going to my state.”

Danny could actually hear Steve’s sheepish shrug over the line. “Cath pissed off some people in Juneau, so we had to leave. And I’d just been on the phone with you, and there was a flight leaving for New Jersey in a couple hours that still had two seats free, so.... And then it felt rude not to have dinner with Clara and Eddie, but dinner somehow turned into us staying with them. I’m still not sure how that happened. Your mother is very persuasive.”

“Don’t I know it. I can’t believe my _parents_ get to see you before I do.”

“Hey, you had me for ten years, don’t get greedy.” Another voice – Cath’s – said something in the background, and Steve called out, slightly muffled, “Yeah, it’s Danny.” There was a pause as she said something, and he replied, “I did not, I was in the hotel bar for that entire incident. No– okay, true.” His voice cleared up again as he returned to the phone and said, “Cath wants me to tell you that the trouble in Juneau was partially instigated by me.”

Danny laughed. “Tell her I already knew that.”

“Says he already knew. She gave you a thumbs-up. And says- says it’s a good thing you both love me.”

“She’s damn right it is.” Danny’s voice softened. “I miss you, babe.”

“I miss you too, Danno.”

There was a scuffling noise on the other end, and Steve said, “Hang on. Your parents are home, I gotta go help with the shopping. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Oh, you’ve got to, huh?” he said into the vacated phone line. “They’re old, not incompetent. But no, Steve McGarrett is physically incapable of seeing anyone who could possibly be helped and _not_ helping them, because he’s got the heart of an elderly grandma who’s convinced the entire world is populated with her grandkids. Actually, he’s got the mind of an elderly grandma too–”

“Were you just monologuing to thin air about your boyfriend?” Cath asked from the other end of the phone.

“And what of it?” Danny replied. “Hey, Clara and Eddie aren’t there, right, they didn’t hear you?”

“Hmm?”

“You haven’t told them about me and Steve, right?”

“No, Steve wasn’t sure if you’d told them, so we haven’t said anything.”

Danny sighed in relief. “Oh, good.”

“You have… come out to them, right?” Cath asked, less hesitant than unbelieving.

“What? Yes. In high school. It’s just– the Williams kids don’t have a great history with relationships. So they tend to get a bit… much around partners.”

“They like Steve, though.”

“Yes, exactly, and I’d like to keep it that way. Better all around if they keep thinking we’re just, you know, living together as best friends.”

There was a sceptical pause on the other end. “Uh-huh.”

“Oh, shut up. They’ve bought it so far.”

She laughed. “True. Okay, hang on, they’re coming back in. I’ll give you back to Steve.”

Danny hesitated, then asked, “Actually, can you hand the phone to Ma?”

“Sure. Clara? It’s your son.”

“Hi, baby,” came Clara’s voice.

“Hi, Ma. How come you didn’t tell me Steve was there?”

“Well, I was going to tell you today, when you called. Anyway, I think he liked surprising you.”

“Of course he did, the bastard.”

“Hey!”

“Oh, come on, Ma. I know he’s called me something at least as bad in the last two days.”

“Of course not, he’s a very sweet boy,” Clara said stoutly, and Danny laughed.

“He’s on his best behaviour for you, Ma. Anyway, you know I don’t mean it.”

“It’s nice to have a young man around the house again, since we never get to see you.”

“Actually, that was what I wanted to ask you,” Danny said, skilfully dodging the little guilt trip. “Do you have room for one more in the house?”

“For you, baby? Always. Does this mean you’re coming to visit?”

“Maybe. For a little while,” Danny hedged.

“I’ll take it, even if you are just coming because you want to see your friends. Just tell me the day, and I’ll be at the airport to pick you up.”

“No, I miss you and Pop too,” he protested. “And you don’t have to do that. Send Steve, I’ve taken him to enough airports over the years, he can pick me up from one.”

She scoffed and Danny shrugged. He should’ve known better.

“I love you, Ma. Can you put Steve back on so I can tell him? Actually, wait, no, I have a better idea, let’s keep it from him and I’ll just turn up on the doorstep and give him a heart attack.”

“I’m not going to keep it a secret from him, dear. But I will put him on.”

“Okay. Tell Pop I love him!”

“Of course. I love you.”

There was a brief scuffling noise at the other end, then Steve’s voice saying, “Hey, Danny.”

“Hey, babe.”

Before he can continue, Steve said, “Did I hear Clara say you’re coming to visit?”

“Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?” Danny teased, instead of answering.

“Maybe. Are you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll book the ticket as soon as I get off the phone.”

“Will Junior be okay there by himself? He won’t get lonely?”

Danny’s instinctive response to that was ‘oh, honey’, but no-one outside of a full-blown drag queen in the middle of a show would have been able to say it in quite the right tone, so instead he said, “Honestly, I think he’ll enjoy having the house to himself. Anyway, Nahele’s been coming over a lot, helping to paint the bedrooms and fix up the basement. He said something about repaying you?”

Steve sighed huffily. “I told him he doesn’t need to. He needed help with rent last month, but I gave him the money because he’s family, not so he’d renovate my house.”

“Yeah, but you know how proud he gets over that stuff. It makes him feel better about it. Anyway, he and Junior have been getting close.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“So he’ll probably spend a few nights, and I’m sure Tani will too. And he’ll have Eddie. He’ll be fine.”

“I miss Eddie.” Clara said something in the background, and Steve replied, muted, “No, my dog Eddie. Danny’s been looking after him… Yeah, but everybody loves Eddie.”

Danny whistled the start of the _Everybody Loves Raymond_ theme tune, and Steve came back on the line to admonish, “I hope you haven’t been insulting my TV with that.”

“For the last time, it is the superior bad 90s sitcom, and Seinfeld can suck it.”

“Hipster doofus.”

“I am not Kramer.”

“Right, you’re Elaine. Sure, buddy.”

Danny snorted. “Anyway, we’ve been watching Frasier. Eddie likes it when they say his name. And I introduced Junior to _Enemy Mine_.”

“Why.”

“You _know_ you teared up last time we watched it, don’t pretend like you’re above it.”

“You– hang on.” Steve stopped to listen to something Clara was saying, said, “Sorry, Clara,” then came back. “She says to stop using up her phone bill to argue about TV shows. Listen, I’m gonna go help her put dinner on – shouldn’t you be at work, anyway? Isn’t it midday there?”

“It is midday here,” Danny agreed. “However, it’s also Saturday. And no-one’s committed any Five-0 worthy crimes.”

“Oh, right. The days have gotten a little blurry on me lately. Go have lunch, then. And text me when you get your airplane ticket?”

“Sure. Tell Cath and my parents goodbye. I love you, babe.”

“I love you.”

Danny hung up, and put down the phone. He stared at it for a moment, then opened his laptop and pulled up the Hawaiian Airlines website (and no, he was not going to tell either his parents or Steve that he’d started flying with them).

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Clara was, as promised, at the airport to pick him up, and she'd brought the entire household with her. Her, and Eddie, and Cath, and Steve, all standing in an awkward little family huddle outside the gates. Well, Ma and Pop and Steve were awkward. Danny was fairly certain by this point that Cath couldn’t actually look out of place if she tried. They all got stupid grins when they saw him, even Cath, and Ma and Steve broke out of formation to come jogging over to him. Steve reached him a few moments before she did, because, well– 40-year-old ex-SEAL vs. 60-year-old woman whose major exercise was telling her husband he should be getting more exercise. Which, come to think of it, was probably one of the things Steve had bonded with her over.

Steve reached him first, and threw his arms around him in a hug that came close to sweeping him off the ground. Danny laughed and returned it with one arm, leaving the other one free to wrap around Clara when she joined them a few moments later. Steve dropped a kiss on the top of his head, shortly followed by Clara pulling his head up to kiss him on the forehead. Danny patted Steve hard on the hip – kisses were a little beyond the realm of deniability, even for them – and Steve jumped slightly and nodded minutely at Danny, then let go of him. Which hadn’t exactly been the desired effect, but at least he’d remembered that as long as Clara and Eddie were around, they weren’t a couple. Clara took the opportunity to squeeze him tight for a moment, then she let go too.

“Hi, Ma,” Danny said, squeezing her hand, then started leading them over to Eddie and Cath. Steve jabbed him in the back, and he shot a grin over his shoulder at him. “Hello, Steve.”

Steve grinned goofily back at him, and Danny let himself fall into it for a moment, slowing his pace, before they reached the other two and Eddie swept him into a hug, pulling him into his chest the same way he had to all the kids as soon as they were tall enough to reach it. When he let go of him, Cath pulled him in, slapping him on the back once in the most frat bro hug he’d received in years.

“Missed you too, bro,” he told her, laughter seeping into his voice, and she rolled her eyes at him.

“C’mon, let’s go home,” Eddie said. “Clara wants to show you the new light fittings.”

“Don’t let him fool you, he’s prouder of those than he is of his children,” Clara told them conspiratorially. “He installed them himself, you see. Never mind that he almost broke all of his fingers in the process and the lounge room one still hangs wonky.”

“It’s meant to look like that!” Eddie objected.

“Yes, dear.”

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Danny was actually grateful for the full interrogation about the last few months that Clara kept up on him as Eddie drove them home, if only because it helped distract him from how much he wanted to get his hands on Steve. Who was sitting pressed up against him, because the backseat of his parents’ car was not big enough to comfortably fit three people, and who kept shifting in his seat, because he was an asshole.

“And you have been eating enough?” Clara said from the front seat, and Danny sighed dramatically.

“Yes, Ma, I’ve been eating enough. I’ve been teaching Junior to make chocolate chip pancakes actually, so we’ve been eating a lot of those.”

“They’ll never be as good as yours,” Steve told him seriously. Being outrageously attractive _and_ complimenting his cooking? The man was trying to drive him to an early grave. Death by sexual frustration, was that a thing? If it wasn’t, Steve was going to make it a thing. Creating inventive new death methods _was_ a skill of his. Cath nudged him from his other side and he snapped out of it.

“Of course they’ll never be as good as mine. But he’s getting the hang of it. I just hope he figures out how to cook some more things while I’m gone – the military apparently doesn’t bother to teach you such life skills as being able to make edible food, and a man cannot subsist on chocolate chip pancakes alone.”

“That a dare?” Steve asked, and Danny spun as much as he could in his seat and shoved a finger in his face.

“No, that was not a dare. There’s like four other food groups and I won’t see you neglecting them, Steven.”

“Actually, if you add blueberries, they hit all five.”

“Grace would kill me if she thought I made you do this.”

“How is our granddaughter?” Eddie interjected, pulling up to a red light.

“I don’t know, Pop, you saw her more recently than I did.”

Cath made a questioning noise, and Danny explained, “They helped her move in to her dorm.”

“Yes, but she never rings us,” Clara said. “You’ve talked to her more.”

Steve put his hand up sheepishly, and Clara smiled at him in the rear-view mirror. “Actually, I think I was the last one to talk to her,” he told them. “She called me this morning.”

“And how is she?”

“She’s good. She’s settled in well, but of course she has.”

Danny squinted at him suspiciously. “Why did she ring you?”

“… she was teaching her roommate how to throw a punch properly. She wanted to check something with me.”

“They are two teenage girls living on a college campus. I’ll accept it.”

“What wouldn’t you have accepted?” Cath asked curiously.

“Oh, any number of things. He’s a terrible influence on my daughter.”

“Oh, yes,” Steve agreed cheerfully. “Exercising with her, teaching her how to defend herself, helping her out when you refuse to let her be independent. I’m clearly her worst parental figure.”

Danny quite honestly had no comeback to that, or at least, not any that wouldn’t end up in Steve quoting himself-of-a-year-ago back to him, so instead he turned to Clara. “Hey, Ma, have you done any other renovations I should know about before I get in there and it’s totally different to my childhood home?”

“You can see for yourself in a minute,” Eddie replied instead as they pulled into the driveway. “But no, it’s just the lights. And a new bench in the kitchen. Oh, and we replaced the wallpaper in your old room.”

“Aw, no more child-unfriendly cowboys?”

“It’s painted a very nice navy now. Your mother wanted canary-yellow stripes, but I talked her out of it.”

“We put the stripes in the bathroom,” Clara told Danny as he gave her a hand down from the front seat. “He was right, they wouldn’t have been very good for sleeping.”

“I’m sorry, hold up, rewind,” Steve interjected, following them around to the boot. Eddie popped it and handed him the first of Danny’s bags, which he slung across his back. Danny tried very hard not to look at the muscles flexing underneath his tattoos and failed very quickly. “Child-unfriendly cowboys?” Steve asked.

“Did I never tell you about them?” Danny replied, tearing his gaze away from Steve’s biceps and rolling his eyes at the smug smirk on his face. “I was obsessed with cowboys and the Wild West when I was like, six, so Ma and Pop agreed to repaper my room with this wallpaper, and it had, y’know, a cowboy on a horse, and one lassoing something, and for some reason, one bending over to look at a cactus. Which would have been fine, only what they didn’t show us in the shop was that the way the sheets lined up next to each other–”

Cath started shaking with restrained laughter, and Danny pointed at her. “She sees where this is going. Yeah, the cowboy bending over was right at the edge of each sheet, lined up with his back to the one who was lassoing. Who happened to have his other hand down by his side, so it fell about on the bending one’s hip.”

Cath burst out laughing, immediately followed by Steve. Danny raised his voice over them and continued, “I, of course, being of a tender age, did not see the implications of this. At least not for almost another decade, when – lying on my bed and trying to figure out whether I liked boys – I happened to glance over at my wall and see two cowboys fucking. I really could not tell you whether it helped or hurt my sexuality crisis.”

“In our defence, you really loved that wallpaper,” Clara offered, softly but unapologetically. “There was no way you would’ve let us take it down once it was up.”

“Honestly, I’m still kind of sad you painted over it,” he said to her back as she unlocked the front door.

“The blue’s nice, though,” Steve said.

“Of course you like the blue. Hang on, what’re the sleeping arrangements? Have you been in my room?”

Steve nodded, straight-faced, and Danny suppressed a laugh. That was a turnaround for the books.

“Catherine’s been in Stella’s old room,” Clara told him, standing back to let him wheel his suitcase past her into the house. “We turned the other one into a study, but there’s another bed in Stella’s room, so you’ll have to sleep there.”

“What, I don’t get to kick Steve out to sleep in _my_ own room?” It would’ve been nice, actually, to be in the same room as Steve, but he couldn’t come up with a good reason to swap Steve and Cath around that didn’t involve dropping the pretence. His and Stella’s rooms did adjoin, at least.

“First come, first serve, baby,” she replied, kissing him on the cheek as he walked past. “Eddie, honey, could you get the chicken out of the freezer? I forgot to before we left. I’ll take Danny upstairs.”

Eddie nodded, squeezing her arm as he walked through to the kitchen, and Clara led the three of them up.

#

The upper level of the house had been almost entirely made up of bedrooms when they were kids, and apparently still lent a large amount of its space to that. The staircase was at the back of the house and in the middle, with Danny’s old room to one side and the main bathroom to the other. In front of Danny’s bedroom was Stella’s; in front of the bathroom had been Matt’s and Bridget’s (until Matt got too old to agree to sharing a bedroom with a girl anymore, when some fast reorganisation ended up with him sharing Danny’s room for a couple of years, and then taking over Stella’s when she met the no-good Russo kid and moved out – by the time she moved back in, pregnant with baby Eric, Danny was about to leave for college anyway, so it all worked out); and stretched out along the front of the house was the master bedroom. That they’d chosen the baby siblings’ room to renovate Danny assumed was probably as much to do with the fact that it had been Matt’s as that it was slightly larger than the other two.

Stella’s room had been the best one – bigger than Danny’s, and the only one of the kids’ with a big window. Admittedly, it only looked out at the strip of grass between their house and the neighbour’s, but still, the principle was there. And Stella had taken great delight in covering it with those weird stained-glass decal things – Danny was willing to bet Clara and Eddie had taken those down the minute there were no kids left in the room. It had also been stripped of her boy band posters and overstuffed beanbag, but they’d left the bookcase that she’d spent most of her pregnancy painting giant sunflowers on in the corner. Although Danny was sure they’d gotten rid of at least some of the books on it – he couldn’t see them keeping Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew in the guest room.

Cath headed straight for the armchair on the left side of the room, next to the bed that had her suitcase lying on the ground behind it. Steve put Danny’s bag down on the other bed, and said, “I’ll help him unpack, Clara.”

“I’ll supervise,” Cath added from where she was sprawled across the armchair.

Clara laughed. “Okay, I’ll leave you to catch up with your friends. I love you, baby,” she told Danny, taking his head in both hands to kiss him on the forehead.

“Love you, Ma,” he muttered.

As soon as the door shut behind her, Steve crossed the two steps between them and bent his head to kiss him, letting one hand fall onto his waist and curling the other around the back of his head. Danny arched up into him, and curled his fingers into Steve’s hair, still slightly longer than he ever let it get at home. After a minute, Danny hummed, and broke away with difficulty to gesture at Cath and go, “Babe, we’re not actually alone.”

“Oh no, feel free to continue,” Cath told him cheerfully, with a sparkle in her eyes. “Your boyfriend’s hot.”

Danny let go of Steve to stride over and flick her on the arm, and she dove away, laughing. “Hey, we broke up, I didn’t go blind!”

He saw Steve grinning smugly out of the corner of his eye, and gave up on reprimanding Catherine in favour of perching on the arm of the chair she was sitting on and saying, “Hey, wise guy, weren’t you going to help me unpack?”

Steve batted his ridiculously long eyelashes at the two of them in response. “I’m pretty sure you just confirmed that I’m too pretty for that.”

“I will come over there and hit you.”

“We both know if you’re coming over here it’s to kiss me.”

Danny got up and crossed the few steps between them in a menacing stalk, then looked up at Steve’s stupid, smug, face, shook his head, and leant up to kiss him on the forehead. “I missed you, idiot.”

Steve got his goofy grin, and Danny turned away to hide his own equally stupid smile, rolling his eyes at Cath when she raised her eyebrows at him, lifting an arm across the back of her chair. When he turned back, Steve was in the process of lifting Danny’s suitcase onto the bed. There was a new chest of drawers against the wall at the foot of the bed, and Danny opened one and started moving his clothes from the suitcase to it. Steve let him for about two minutes, getting a progressively more tortured look on his face, until he finally snapped and grabbed a pair of pants from Danny. “You’re folding them wrong,” he informed him.

“Sure, babe, whatever. You do it then.”

Steve walked around to that side of the bed, and took over, grumbling. He did turn his head to drop a kiss on Danny’s shoulder as he walked over to the bookshelf, though, so Danny figured he’d achieved the desired result of fond irritation. And Steve doing his unpacking for him.

“Ma always tells me I’m folding my clothes wrong, too,” he said, turning his head to the side to read the book spines. “I think she’s readying to adopt you, you know.”

Cath spread her hands. “I told you they liked him.”

“What can I say?” Steve replied. “Clara has good taste.”

“Uh-huh, sure. I’m surprised you’re not still calling her Mrs. Williams, you suck-up.”

“Oh, he tried,” Cath told him. “But she shut it the fuck down.”

“That’s my mother,” Danny said proudly.

“I believe her exact words,” Steve interjected, shaking out one of Danny’s button-downs, “were, ‘I thought I told you to call me Clara six years ago, how have you still not learnt it?’”

There was a moment of silence, then Steve asked, “So, when are you planning on telling them about us?”

Danny peered at an edition of _Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus_. Why the _fuck_ did his parents have that? And why had they decided to put it in the guest room? “Never, preferably.”

When there was no reply from Steve, he turned around. The shirt that he’d been folding was dropped on top of the pile of others, one arm hanging forlornly down the side.

“What?” Steve said finally.

Danny spread his hands. “What what?”

“I assumed you just… hadn’t got around to telling them, and I figured you should, rather than me. I didn’t think you were planning on _never_ telling them.”

Danny grinned at Steve, attempting to ignore the eddying swirls of confusion and distress that were beginning to happen behind his eyes. “Think of it as an exciting teenage romance.”

“I’ve had enough sneaking around to last a lifetime, babe.”

“We both lived through DADT, remember?” Cath said grimly.

“I know, but– wait, we?”

“Yeah. Me and him.”

“Wait, you’re bi? How did I not know this?”

Steve did a double-take at him, which at least meant he stopped looking like Danny had just declared he was going to start shooting puppies in front of him. “You didn’t? What did you think we bonded over in the first place?”

“I don’t know, being insane? I think I always just assumed you two locked eyes across a crowded battleship and both went ‘they look like they enjoy blowing things up, let’s fall in love’.”

Steve looked at Cath, who shrugged. “He’s not terribly far off.”

“Yeah, okay.” Turning back to Danny, he said. “Danny, I… why?”

“You know the Williams relationship history. You’ve met my parents.”

“Okay, but you just told me your mother wants to adopt me.”

Danny threw his hands up. “Yeah, now, when she thinks you’re just my best friend. That’s all going to change if she learns there’s more.”

Steve had those worried lines happening between his eyes, and Danny sighed. “Look, it’s just… it’s a bad idea to tell them while we’re here, okay? They’ll get a hold of you and they won’t let go. They’re like barnacles.”

Some of the tension seeped out of Steve. “So you’ll tell them when we get back home?”

“I don’t–” Steve’s shoulders began to snap back into that upright military posture that Danny had cultivated a burning hatred for over the last ten years, and he gave in. “Yeah, okay, fine.”

He cracked a grin, and Danny sighed again, this time in relief. “You really were just planning to never tell them?” he asked. “What if you ask me to marry you one day? Your parents weren’t gonna be at your wedding?”

“Okay, two things. First off, bold of you to assume I’m going to be the one proposing: you hate surprises and I wanna be wooed. Secondly, we’ve just established that I’m okay with telling them once we’re back home in Hawaii, I just don’t want to do it here while they can get at you. You may have survived the Taliban and whatever, but you do not know the meaning of interrogation until you’ve had the Williams Special.”

Cath laughed, but Steve held up a thoughtful hand. “No, I believe him. You didn’t see Gracie, seven years old, trying to discover what had happened to her Furby.”

“The answer is, I lit it on fire,” Danny told her. “The damn thing kept chittering at me in the middle of the night. I was starting to have nightmares where I woke up to it standing over me with a knife.”

“I once suggested to upper management that we use them as enhanced interrogation devices,” she replied, straight-faced.

Steve had abandoned Danny’s pile of half-folded clothes and walked over to drape himself across Danny’s back, arms wrapped around his chest in the sort of embrace that Danny imagined would be characteristic of the bastard child of a monkey, a brown bear, and an octopus. He folded his own hands over Steve’s and tilted his head back to kiss him, and Cath laughed and stood up.

“I’m gonna let you guys do this–” she waved a hand at them, “–alone. Have fun.”

“You have fun too!” Danny called after her, and blamed his lack of a better comeback on Steve’s extreme proximity and heat. And lips. His lips were extreme.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

“Don’t you want them to be happy?” Clara’s voice was almost wheedling, and Cath stopped outside the door to listen. She’d blame it on work habits if anyone caught her.

“He’s my only living son, of course I want him to be happy,” Eddie said gruffly. “You know that face hasn’t worked on me for forty years.”

She obviously did know, because her voice immediately shifted back to its normal, practical, tone. “If it weren’t for Danny, we’d be divorced. If you think about it, we owe this to him.”

“No, we’d owe him marriage counselling, but we’re ten years too late for that.”

“So this is the next best thing.”

“Clara, in no world is matchmaking someone behind their back equivalent to marriage counselling.”

A massive grin spread across Cath’s face as she finally cottoned on to what they were arguing about.

“I didn’t say it was equivalent, I said it was the next best thing,” Clara returned. “And you know as well as I do that he’d never cooperate, the boy got your stubbornness. But you’ve seen them together now, you have to see it, they’re–”

“They’re in love. I know they are, honey.”

“Mmm,” Clara agreed definitively. “But I’m worried they’re both too stubborn and too afraid to do anything about it. At least, not without a little push.”

Eddie sighed. “You might be right.”

“So you agree. We have to help them.”

“I don’t know…”

Cath knocked once on the wall next to the door, and immediately entered.

“Oh, Catherine!” Clara exclaimed. “We thought you were still upstairs with the boys. The boys are still upstairs, right?”

“They are. But I couldn’t help overhearing you just now.” Technically that was true. From the spot where she’d been standing, she couldn’t have helped it.

Eddie shot Clara an admonishing glance, and she got a faintly guilty expression. “How much?”

Cath shrugged. “Enough to figure out what you’re talking about. And you’re right.”

“See?” Clara said to Eddie, slapping him lightly on the arm. “Even the ex knows. Sorry, dear, I know you’re more than the ex,” she said to Cath. “But you see my point.”

“Oh, absolutely. They’ve been in love for years,” Cath told them with a perfectly straight face. She’d never thought she’d be applying her creative truth-telling training in _exactly_ this situation, but she couldn’t deny it was coming in useful. “They’re both afraid of change, though.” Also true. “Steve hasn’t dated anyone since we ended things, and it’s definitely because of Danny.” Technically true – Steve and Danny hadn’t so much dated as they’d just immediately become a dreamy American white picket fence family with two and a half kids. And then started fucking.

“You’ll help?” Clara asked her, and she nodded seriously. Clara turned to Eddie with raised eyebrows, and he sighed and nodded.

“So what’s the plan?” Cath asked.


	2. A Very Masculine Ring

Steve walked out of the bathroom, scrubbing his hair, and Danny immediately ducked past him and into the bathroom. Five minutes later, which Steve had spent leaning against the wall just outside, whistling one of those terrible catchy pop songs from some band that Gracie loved that had been playing on the radio on the way to JNU airport and waiting for Danny’s grumpy re-emergence, he did exactly as predicted and re-emerged, grumpily.

“One thing I did _not_ miss,” he declared, throwing his towel over his shoulder and pushing his hair around in some attempt to get it into its usual aggressively tamed state, “was you running out the hot water.”

Steve grinned at him and reached out a hand to ruffle his hair, which Danny slapped away before he got halfway there. “You could always shower with me.”

“Oh yeah, that wouldn’t look suspicious to my parents at all. Two bros going into the bathroom together and both emerging clean and dry.”

“Better than emerging dirty and wet.”

Danny smacked him with the towel. “You’re trying to annoy me, aren’t you?”

“Is it working?” Steve asked smugly.

Ignoring him, Danny said, “Junior’s still stuck on military showers, so there’s always hot water at home now.”

Steve’s smug smile shifted into a just plain happy one, and Danny squinted at him. “What?”

“You called my house home,” he explained.

“Well, I have been living there for six months.”

“Yeah, but it took you like, eight years to even call Hawaii home.”

“I– shut up. If you’re digging for compliments, you’re not going to get them, I’m still mad about the water.”

“I’m not. I’m just happy.”

Danny shook his head, and shot him a small smile. “I know. I know. Shut up.”

“I’m shutting up. I love you.”

“Yeah, me too.”

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

“What do you do to these eggs, Ma? It’s okay if you inject them with heroin, you can tell me.”

Clara laughed. “Nothing like that, it’s just your grandmother’s recipe.”

“Whatever it is, they’re delicious,” Steve added. “Way better than his.” He pointed his fork at Danny briefly before returning it to said eggs.

“Or his,” Danny retorted.

“And everyone knows Steve makes the eggs in that relationship,” Cath joked cryptically. Danny shot her a mild but admonishing glare, and she rolled her eyes at him.

“Speaking of your grandmother,” Clara said. “I found a few of her things when we were redecorating, I wanted to see if you wanted to take any of them while you’re here.”

Eddie gave her a slightly odd look over his plate, but stayed silent, so Danny replied, “Sure. Have you checked with the others?”

“Stella took a couple of things – I’ll ask Bridget after you, but she doesn’t remember her, so I doubt she’ll want anything.”

“Bridget was just a baby when Grandma Rose died,” Danny explained to Steve and Cath before either one could ask.

“They’re in our bedroom, I’ll show you after breakfast.”

“Okay, sure. Now, Ma, can I return to giving these eggs the full attention they deserve?”

“Yeah, sweetheart.”

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Danny stood looking out of the balcony doors as Clara searched the closet for the box of things. The master bedroom was the only room with a balcony, and it stretched the entire front of the room, with a view of their small front yard – the vegetable bed that Clara and Eddie had started tending together, and the squat little tree that Eddie had always steadfastly insisted was a miniature lemon tree, despite it never once bearing anything recognisable as a lemon. Even a miniature one.

“Ah-ha!” Clara exclaimed, and Danny turned around. She held up the shoebox-sized wooden chest, and Danny laughed.

“I remember that box! Every time we went round to their house, I’d start bugging Grandma Rose to use it to play pirates with.”

“You can keep the box, if you’d like. Charlie might want to play pirates.”

“Oh, I’m sure he will once he sees it,” Danny agreed. “Steve can do it with him down on the beach, he’s the one with the real-life pirate experience. And a much higher tolerance than me for getting sand where the sun don’t shine.” He was, in general, attempting to avoid talking too much about Steve, on the basis that Clara had always had an unerring eye for spotting his crushes and he had no idea whether that extended to actual relationships. But he was – as far as his parents were concerned – his best friend and housemate, so it would be suspicious if he _didn’t_ talk about him a little, even when he was in the same house. Probably. Oh, hell, this was half the reason he’d come out to them so early, he was terrible at this schtick.

“You always did complain that the sand was the worst part of the beach,” Clara mused, as she gently tipped the contents of the box onto the bed. Danny came over to help her sort through them – a pincushion, a little journal, half-filled with events, a long pendant necklace. Danny held it up. “I don’t remember her ever wearing this.”

“She didn’t,” Clara confirmed. “You know she didn’t really like wearing any jewellery, especially feminine pieces like that. But Pa got it for her when they first started dating, before he knew that, so she kept it anyway.”

“That’s sweet,” Danny said, and tried not to think too loud about the stupid tacky Hawaiian tourist gifts Steve had gone through a period of buying for him back when they first met, and how he still had a godawful little sculpture of a pineapple with a lei around it that he’d pulled out and put on his bedside table the night Steve left.

The next thing out was a battered paperback recipe book, with pencil notes scrawled in the margins in Rose’s handwriting and a few sheafs of yellowing paper sticking out at random places. “I’ll take this,” Danny said. “Give Kamekona some new ideas for the restaurant, if nothing else. Ooh, are the eggs in here?”

“They are not,” Clara told him firmly. “They’re in the collection of recipes that you get when I die, and not a moment before.”

“Aw, Ma.”

At the bottom of the chest was a silver ring, tiny inset diamond chips all around the outside. “Is that–”

“Yes, it’s Mama’s engagement ring!” Clara said. “I thought it had disappeared forever, but we found it under the carpet, under the bookshelf in Stella’s room. I have no idea how it ended up there, but I was very glad to see it again. I would’ve given it to you when you proposed to Rachel, but it was already lost then.”

“She wouldn’t have liked it anyway,” Danny replied. “I mean, she would have pretended to, but she likes the big flashy stones.”

“Yes, Pa had figured out Mama’s style by then. In fact, it’s gender-neutral, really. Almost masculine.” She picked it up and held it out to him. “You should have it.”

Danny frowned at her. “Naw, Ma, you keep it.”

“No, really. I already have an engagement ring! And so does Bridget, and I really can’t see Stella ever marrying, god bless her. Not with her taste in men. I could’ve given it to Matt, but…”

She trailed off, and Danny reached out to squeeze her arm. “Yeah. Seriously, Ma, you keep it. If I ever plan to propose to someone, I’ll come back and get it, how about that?”

She seemed to be considering it, then nodded and dropped it back in the box. “Okay. I’ll have to find something else to put the rest of the things in, but make sure I don’t forget to give you the box and the book before you go.”

“Will do.”

They packed the things back into the chest, then Clara replaced it in the closet, and turned to kiss Danny on the forehead. “I’m going to have a bath, dear. I love you.”

“Love you, Ma.”

#

Steve and Cath were standing in front of the DVD shelf in the living room, chattering about something.

“Your parents have an impressive movie selection,” Steve told Danny as he strode over to them. “It’s– whoa, okay.” Danny grabbed both of their arms and steered them out the front door to the chairs just outside, pushing them down into them. Cath looked at Steve, and they both shrugged at each other.

“Does _one_ of you want to tell me why my mother just _extremely_ unsubtly attempted to give me my grandmother’s engagement ring, while–” He held up a finger as Steve opened his mouth to deny all involvement. “While telling me how really, it was a very _masculine_ style? And would thus suit a _man_?”

“Maybe she was just trying to be inclusive of your sexuality,” Steve suggested.

Danny glowered. “She could’ve stuck with ‘gender-neutral’, then.”

“Uh,” Cath spoke up, and Danny swivelled his attention to her. “They might be trying to matchmake you two.”

Danny took a deep and calming breath. Although it sort of missed the mark on calming. “Okay, first of all, what? Second of all, how do you know about this? Third of all, what?”

“I might be helping them.”

“Obviously this didn’t get through the first time, so I’m going to repeat it. What?”

Steve was chuckling under his breath from the other chair, which really wasn’t helping with the attempted interrogation. Danny glared at him, but that only made him laugh harder.

Cath shrugged semi-sheepishly. About as close to sheepish as Danny thought she could seriously manage, so points for that. “I walked past them last night, talking about it in the living room. Clara clearly wasn’t going to give up on it, so I figured at least this way you’d have a man on the inside. Woman on the inside.”

Danny threw his hands in the air. “You couldn’t have tried to stop them?”

“What’d you want me to do, tell them that you’re together?”

“No, actually, I wanted you to make up a lie about respecting our privacy.”

Cath grinned. “They’d never believe it. Anyway, I didn’t want to lie to your parents any more than necessary. They’re sweet.”

“Clara and Eddie Williams are not sweet. They’re manipulative, conniving, bastards.”

“No-one said you can’t be a manipulative conniving bastard and also sweet. In fact, I’m beginning to think it’s a prerequisite to being a Williams.”

Danny knew he got an offended look at that statement. “I am not sweet.”

“I’ve known you for nine years, Daniel, you’re sweet. You’re also a manipulative, conniving bastard.”

Admittedly, that was somewhat mollifying. “Okay. Alright. Do you know… what they’re actually planning? Are they actually going to do anything, or will they just keep strongly hinting at us until we go home? I can deal with strong hints.”

Steve raised a hand, and Danny pointed at him. “Yes, Steven.”

“You don’t think maybe this is a sign that we should just tell them?”

“I don’t believe in signs, Steven. So no.”

Steve put his palms up in defeat, and shrugged.

“Catherine?”

“They’re just planning on all of us ducking out tonight and leaving you guys alone. I think Clara’s hoping the ring will have flipped a switch and you’ll jump his bones or something.”

Danny winced. “Please do not say my mother’s name and ‘jump his bones’ in the same sentence.”

“Sorry. If you don’t tell them about it, though, they’re definitely going to escalate to more… plan-y plans.”

“Is that new government terminology I don’t know about?” Steve asked. She flipped him off without looking away from Danny.

Danny sighed. “Will you just… try to slow them down?”

“I can try,” she replied non-committedly. “Can’t promise anything.”

“You know what? I’ll take it.” Years of Steve had clearly drummed him into a state of numb acquiescence when it came to this shit.

“Only you would call what you just did ‘acquiescence’,” Steve said fondly, and he looked up in surprise.

“I said that out loud?”

“Yah.” Steve stood up and held out a hand to him. “Come on, honey. Let’s go back inside and let your parents matchmake us.”

“Kiss me first?”

Steve did as requested, leaning down slightly to brush his lips over Danny’s, and Cath laughed behind them as she stood up. “You guys _do_ see the ridiculousness of this, right?”

“I’m immune to ridiculous by this stage,” Danny told her, and dropped Steve’s hand as they crossed the threshold back into the house.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

“You kids have fun,” Eddie told the three of them as Clara pulled on her red wool coat and linked her arm through his. She waved at them cheerily as Eddie closed the door behind them and they headed off to their date night. Which Danny knew perfectly well was on Saturdays, not Thursdays, but he’d stayed quiet about said knowledge.

Cath pushed off of the back of the couch, where she’d been leaning, and told Steve and Danny, “Okay, I’m gonna go see a movie.” She grabbed her coat off of the hallstand and hung it over her arm. Calling it a _hall_ stand, really, was generous, seeing as how the house didn’t have a hall – you opened the front door and were immediately presented with the sofa and the living room, but it retained the name of hallstand out of a sort of misplaced respect.

“You’re not even gonna invite us?” Danny asked.

“You know that’s not the plan. Also, neither of you will like it.”

“You don’t know that,” Steve objected, and she raised her eyebrows.

“It’s a war movie. So you’d spend half of it like an inch–” demonstrating said distance with her index finger and thumb, held up in front of her face for her to squint through them, “–from getting triggered, and the other half bitching about the inaccuracies, and Danny would just hate it.”

Steve looked at Danny, who shrugged and nodded. “Sounds right, babe. Why are you going to see it then?” he asked Cath as she opened the door. “Haven’t you had enough of war?”

She smiled merrily at them. “I want to see some men with big guns.”

As the door shut behind her, Danny turned to Steve, frowning. “Does she mean–”

“Oh yeah. C’mon, let’s find dinner and a movie.”

#

Steve stuck his head in the fridge, and called out to Danny, “There’s the leftovers from last night, or eggs, chicken breast, uuuhh… vegetables of various kinds.” He picked up a carrot, stared vacantly at it, and replaced it in the crisper. Before he could repeat the procedure, Danny wandered in from the living room and leant around him to grab a beer from the door.

“We’re getting pizza,” he declared.

“Did you hear me just then? Lots of perfectly serviceable food right here.” The fridge started beeping in a distinctly annoyed tone, so Steve grabbed his own beer and shut the door.

“I did hear you, but I haven’t had a decent Jersey pizza for years, and there’s no way Ma and Pop will let us order takeout as long as they’re in the house and have one functioning leg to stand on and one functioning arm to cook with between them. So we’re getting pizza.”

Steve shrugged. “Sure, fine. Pizza. I’m getting pineapple on mine, though.”

Danny dropped his beer onto the countertop to make a vague throttling motion in Steve’s general direction. “ _Not_ in my house.”

“It’s not your house, it’s your parents’.”

“They’re not here, it defaults to me by right of it’s-my-childhood-home-not-yours.”

“That some part of New Jersey state law I don’t know about?”

“Yeah, it was ratified by the no-take-backsies act of 2004.”

Steve laughed, and pulled out his phone. “You have a specific place you want to order from?”

“Oh, do I? It’s a hole in the wall, located on the corner of Marin and 14th, with atmosphere oozing from every brick and the air filled with the scent of dough and cheese. The owner and head chef is known only as Joe, and he looks like a pizza himself, his apron always covered in flour and the roses on his cheeks always high.”

Steve propped a hip against the counter and settled in to wait out Danny’s rave.

#

“C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the apparent wonders of the DVD collection while we wait,” Danny said, grabbing Steve’s hand as he dropped the phone back into his pocket.

“I was only saying it was an impressive variety,” Steve objected, but let Danny pull him into the living room.

“Pop has an immaculate ordering system here,” Danny explained. “Genre, decade, title, stars.” He waved a hand at the front of one of the three spinning shelves. “This here’s Ma’s 1990-2010 period dramas that Pop likes to pretend he doesn’t watch, and the mysteries.” He swivelled the shelf, revealing the other side. “’80s-00s action movies. There’s a lotta classics here.” He raised questioning eyebrows at Steve, who shook his head.

“I think I’m still worn out on gunshots and explosions.”

“Okay.” Danny nodded and moved on to the next shelf. “The classics section. Strictly ‘60s and earlier. Not necessarily free of gunshots, but guaranteed at least free of realistic explosions. And if we exclude the Hitchcocks and other crime dramas…” He placed a hand over the top couple of shelves, covering the titles. “We’re pretty safe.”

“That’s a lot of Katharine Hepburn movies,” Steve noted, running one finger down them.

“Yeah, Pop has a crush on her.”

“Fair enough.”

Danny squinted at the Hepburn section. “You in the mood for baby leopards and dinosaur bones?” he asked, pulling _Bringing Up Baby_ out a couple of inches.

“Well, I’m in the mood to see Cary Grant in nothing but a fur-trimmed robe.”

“I’m warning you now, I will get jealous if you stare too long.”

Steve grinned at him. “Aw. I’m definitely going to stare now.”

“Don’t judge me,” Danny grumbled, taking the DVD out and moving over to the TV. “You’ve been gone three months, for all I know you’ve been gallivanting with Cary Grant lookalikes in every town this side of the Atlantic.”

“We crossed the Atlantic, you know.”

“Don’t tell me that!”

Chuckling, Steve crouched down next to where Danny was fiddling with the DVD player. Once he got the disc in, Steve put a hand on the back of his neck and pulled him around into a soft, slow kiss. Caught off-balance, Danny’s hands dropped to Steve’s thighs, one still holding the DVD case. After a long moment, the world slowing down and shrinking until the two of them were encased in a bubble made of the slight spice of Danny’s aftershave and the downy hair on the nape of his neck and the warmth of his palms, Steve pulled back and said quietly, “No Cary Grant lookalikes, I promise.”

“Ah,” Danny said, still catching his breath. “Katharine Hepburn lookalikes.”

Bursting out laughing, Steve pushed at Danny, making both of them lose their balance and collapse to the floor. “Not apart from the one I’ve been travelling with, idiot.”

“Oh!” Danny threw himself back in a swoon, landing with his head in Steve’s lap. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go off with the ex.”

“Yes, we’ve been sleeping in the same hotel room and everything,” Steve told him solemnly, absent-mindedly petting his hair.

“Mmm. Terrible. I’ll never be able to trust you again.” He reached out to the abandoned DVD case and stretched up to put it on the TV stand, then patted Steve’s cheek. “C’mon, help me up.”

“You’re gonna have to get off me first.”

Groaning, Danny pushed himself into a sitting position, and Steve jumped up and extended a hand. Danny took it with a mildly censorious glare that Steve took to be aimed at his agility, and levered himself off the ground to face Steve. He grabbed the remote off the TV stand and waved it in Steve’s face. “The price for you ordering your insult to God of a pizza is that I get control of the remote.”

“Sure,” Steve ceded easily, and Danny grunted.

“It’s no fun when you’re that obliging.”

“Sorry, three months. I’m out of practice. Who’s the control freak now?”

“Better.”

The doorbell rang just as they were sitting down on the couch. Danny waved the remote at Steve, then returned it to the TV, so Steve got up and went around to the front door.

“Thanks, man,” he told the delivery boy, taking the boxes with one hand and handing the tip over with the other. He pushed the door shut as the kid walked back to his bike, and leant over the back of the couch to dump both pizza boxes, garlic bread on top, in Danny’s lap.

“Hey! You’re gonna get grease stains on my pants.”

“They’re sweatpants. And that’s what you get for not helping me get it.”

“I am doing the very important job of making sure the movie doesn’t start before you’re here. Don’t they train you for one-person pizza delivery acceptance in the Army?”

“Navy,” Steve said, grinning at the old argument. Clearly Danny was feeling nostalgic.

“C’m’ov’r here.” He waved an arm in Steve’s direction as he walked back around the couch.

“I’m here.”

“Good.” Danny threw an arm around Steve’s shoulders, and lifted the lid of the top pizza box before dropping it back in disgust. “Here’s your abomination,” he told Steve, dropping it on his lap with a disdainful flick of his wrist.

“Thankyou, dear.”

“And here’s my blessing upon man.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And there,” he finished, lifting a slice of pizza with one hand and pressing play with the other, “is Cary Grant holding a giant dinosaur bone.”

“Kinky.”

“I hate you.”

#

“I’m cold.”

Danny looked up at Steve in disbelief, but reached out to pause the movie. “I am literally covering your lap,” he said, demonstrating his point by shifting onto his back and opening his arms. “And it’s over 50 degrees still.”

“Don’t look at me like that, I refuse to believe you’re still adapted to Jersey temperatures. You’ve been living with an 80 degree average for a decade.”

“It’s a point of pride,” Danny told him sternly, but sat up and pointed behind the TV, to the large closet under the stairs. “There’s blankets in there.”

Steve got up and rummaged around in it for a moment, making quiet banging noises. Danny was just considering getting up to help when he reappeared, not holding a blanket, but instead holding a guitar. He held it up with a questioning look, and Danny said, “Yeah, that’d be Pop’s. I don’t know why it’s there, but it’s one of the hobbies he decided to keep because he could do it at home with Ma.”

“It’s nice,” Steve said, running a hand across the wood. “It’s really nice.”

“Careful, babe, your guitar is gonna get jealous if you keep caressing it like that. And as the person who bought it, I’m going to be forced to defend its honour.”

“I miss my guitar,” Steve said, fiddling with the tuning knobs. “Do you think he’d mind if I–?”

“Nah, as long as you don’t hurt it he’d be fine with you playing it.”

“Oh, I’d never hurt this beauty.”

“Seriously, you’re getting a little creepy.”

He laughed and ducked back into the closet, reemerging with a blanket slung over his shoulder, the guitar in his arms. He sat back down next to Danny, and Danny lay down again, his head now in front of the guitar. He could feel the vibrations through the wood as Steve strummed behind him, and he rolled his head back to face Steve and said, “Sing me a song, Mr. Guitar Man.”

Grinning, Steve obliged, starting up a steady thrumming beat before singing, “ _I call you when I need you, my heart’s on fire._ ”

Danny reached down to pat Steve’s thigh. “I love you, babe, but you do not have the singing skills to Schitt’s-Creek me.”

“Hey, you’re the one who told me to sing.”

“And I’m sure you’ll hit the right song eventually. Try again.”

“You wanna just tell me what it is?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Okay, okay. Uuuuhh… _All my elevens and sevens been coming up sixes and nines”_ He strummed a chord progression, and continued, “ _But since I fell for you, babe, I’m coming on chaaanging times._ ”

“While I appreciate the temerity,” Danny told him, “trying to cover The Boss in his home state is something akin to hubris. You can sing me that one when we’re back in Hawaii.”

Nodding, Steve started strumming a repetitive, bouncy, rhythm, repeating it a few times before he cocked an eyebrow at Danny and sang, “ _Call me good, call me bad, call me anything you want to, baby._ ”

Danny laughed and reached up, tapping at the quirked eyebrow. “Wham!, really? I know we’re gay, but I don’t think we’re that gay.”

“You recognised it.”

“Well, I did frequent some of Jersey’s finest gay bars in the early ‘90s. You didn’t, though, what’s your excuse?”

Steve shrugged. “I listened to a lot of music when I was a young teenager. Disco pop is good at blocking things out.” Humming something, he paused a moment, then played a descending series of chords. “ _Listen, baby,_ ”

“Yeah?” Danny joked.

“ _Ain’t no mountain high, ain’t no valley low. Ain’t no river wide enough, baby-_ ”

He pointed at Danny silently.

“I can’t sing,” Danny protested, but Steve just stared down at him and repeated the chord sequence. He sighed and gave in.

“ _If you need me call me, no matter where you are, no matter how far._ ”

“ _Don’t worry baby,_ ” Steve picked it up again. “ _Just call my name, I’ll be there in a hurry, you don’t have to worry, ‘cause baby there_ -”

Danny joined him for the chorus, even though he’d been entirely truthful when he’d said he couldn’t sing.

“ _Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you, babe._ ”

Steve strummed a little flourish, and Danny grinned. “Told you you’d find the right song.”

Steve took his hand off the strings to squeeze Danny’s arm. “Our song, huh?”

“Well, I have been to North Korea just to find you, so yeah, I feel safe claiming it.”

Smiling, Steve returned to his aimless strumming. “Turn the movie back on?”

“You gonna provide your very own soundtrack?”

“Exactly.”

“Alright, then.” Danny reached out and pressed play. As Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn chased a leopard through dark gardens, Steve played a zingy little background to match the on-screen audio. Danny relaxed into the feeling of Steve warm and solid and light-hearted behind him, and smiled softly to himself. If this was what his parents matchmaking was going to look like, he could definitely put up with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The songs Steve sings are, in order: 'The Best' by Tina Turner, 'Roll of the Dice' by Bruce Springsteen, 'I'm Your Man' by Wham!, and 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. All of them are on the playlist I linked at the start, and if anyone wants to disagree about Ain't No Mountain being Steve and Danny's song i WILL meet you out back of Denny's for a socially distanced fistfight. Unless you want to argue that it's Home by Phillip Phillips in which case we can probably have a reasoned discussion.


	3. The Intersection of Steve and Spies

“Ma, will you sit down? I’m perfectly capable of making everyone breakfast by myself. Or I would be, if you let me.”

Clara dropped the whisk and raised her hands in the air as Steve poked his head around the doorway.

“Oh, good, Steve. Will you tell my mother I can cook without her assistance? Maybe she’ll listen to you.”

“Best to just let him do it by himself when he gets like this,” Steve told her wryly, sitting down on one of the kitchen barstools.

Nodding, she took the stool next to him. “I should know better, his father’s exactly the same way.”

“Isn’t it irritating?” Steve said, leaning in and making a solidarity face.

His back to them, Danny called, “I’d advise you to start a different line of conversation if you want to get pancakes, Steven.”

“Have you heard from Catherine?” Clara asked Steve, saving his pancakes.

“No, not since she left last night.”

“Well, do you know where she went?”

Danny turned around, the bowl of pancake batter in his arms. “Don’t worry about Cath, Ma,” he advised. “She can look after herself better than I can.”

“And he freed himself from an abduction three months ago,” Steve chipped in, making Danny shoot him a dirty look.

“Ma and I have a strict policy about these sorts of things,” he explained.

“He doesn’t tell me, and I don’t ask,” Clara explained.

“Our very own personal DADT.”

“Well, he told me about that decades ago,” Clara mused. “This one’s just to stop me worrying.”

“Does it work?” Steve asked.

“Well, no,” she admitted. “But it’s better than the alternative.”

“I get it.”

Danny snorted. “Never mind that he does so much insane shit that he leaves me terrified every time he goes off alone,” he said to Clara, jerking his chin at Steve. “I’m not going to be able to retire until he does, because doing that would actually _increase_ my chances of a heart attack.”

“Yeah it would, because you’d never get any exercise if it weren’t for work, so your cholesterol would skyrocket,” Steve retorted.

“Uh-huh, you’re damn right. Bitch about it with Grace.”

Steve grinned at him, and he rolled his eyes. “Go set the table, babe.”

“I can do that,” Clara volunteered.

“No, no, you cooked yesterday, he didn’t. You go get Pop while I cook the pancakes.”

“Alright, baby,” she ceded, and left.

Checking that she was out of sightline, Steve stole a kiss from Danny as he leant around him to get to the cutlery. “I love you.”

“Sucking up isn’t going to get you more pancakes!” Danny called after him as he walked out of the kitchen.

#

There was a knock on the door just as Danny came into the dining room, a pile of pancakes teetering on top of the plate in his hand. Steve put his hand up. “I’ll get it.”

Back through the kitchen and a few meters down the (non-existent) hall, he opened the door to a relaxed Cath. Her hair, despite showing evidence of her attempting to tame it, looked like a mob of raccoons had picked their way through it, and her eyes looked like the same mob had done her makeup the night before, but her stance was loose and easy.

“Hey, what happened to you?” Steve asked. “Clara was worried.”

“And you weren’t? Rude.”

“I try not to worry about you when you’re in Iran, I figure you can handle the mean streets of New Jersey.”

She shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“So what were you doing all night? And morning.”

“I found a man with a big gun.” She winked at him, and slipped past and upstairs as he laughed.

#

Danny reached out to give Cath a one-armed hug from his chair as she came into the dining room, makeup wiped off and wearing a clean hoodie and jeans. “Oh, good, I’m in time for breakfast,” she said, returning the hug before she took the chair next to Steve’s.

“Mm-hmm.” Danny pushed what remained of the plate of pancakes towards her, and she began transferring them to the plate in front of her.

There were a few minutes of silence as everyone ate, then Eddie, leaning past Clara to grab the syrup, asked, “What are you planning to do next, Steve?”

Steve glanced to either side of him, at Cath and then Danny, and said, “I think I’m going home. I miss everyone – and I miss Hawaii.”

"You find what you were looking for?" Danny asked him quietly, and he shrugged. 

"I don't know, but I know I'm ready to come home."

Cath swallowed her outrageously large bite of pancake and added, to Clara and Eddie, “My leave’s up soon anyway, and I’d like to actually see the rest of the gang. So I’ll fly to Hawaii with these guys for a week or two before I go back to the agency.”

“The agency?” Eddie asked.

“CIA,” Steve supplied.

“Ah,” Eddie said.

“That explains why Danny was so sure you could take care of yourself,” Clara added.

Cath grinned. “Yeah.”

“You two didn’t know she was CIA?” Danny asked.

“We never asked,” Eddie objected mildly.

“And it’s not like I go around wearing a badge that says ‘Agent Rollins, Central Intelligence Agency’,” Catherine added. “It’d sort of defeat the point.”

“Ah, spies. The bane of my existence,” Danny sighed.

“I thought that was me,” Steve said. “I’m hurt.”

“I mean, really if I think about it, it’s the intersection of you and spies. This combo,” he said, waving his fork at Steve and Cath. “This is specifically designed to send me insane.”

“What’s so bad about spies?” Cath protested.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m recalling an incident, about two years ago…”

“That was _not_ my fault,” Steve objected. “That was just the spies.”

“The spies started it, certainly. But we wouldn’t have got into-”

“I had no choice!”

Eddie made a questioning noise, and Danny turned to him. “We got into a– let’s say a situation–”

“Which was entirely _not_ my fault–”

“Because Jack Traven over here–”

“You realise that if I’m Jack, you die halfway through the movie, right?”

Danny spread his hands. “Who said I’m Harry, huh? I’m Sandra Bullock.”

“You know relationships based on intense experiences never work out.”

“Good thing ours was based on threats.”

“What are they talking about?” Clara asked Cath, handing over the berries.

“ _Speed_. The 90s movie,” she explained, gratefully accepting the bowl. “And Danny’s definitely Harry.”

“You know, the one with that boy you like,” Eddie chipped in. “We saw it at the cinema.”

“Oh, yes.”

Danny leant back from his mock argument with Steve to say incredulously, “Ma, you got a thing for Keanu Reeves?”

“He’s very pretty,” she equivocated.

Danny looked at Steve in disbelief, but he just shrugged. “He is.” Cath nodded, her mouth full.

“Wow, you all have terrible taste in men.”

“Hey,” Eddie protested.

“Pop, you have no taste in men, you were obviously excluded from that.”

“No, I mean, she chose me.”

“Oh. Well, terrible taste with one exception.”

Steve’s eyes crinkled up as he smothered a smile and raised his eyebrows at Danny. Luckily, Cath gestured at Steve with one hand at the same time, giving him plausible deniability to revise it to, “Fine, fine, _some_ exceptions.”

“Anyway, what’s wrong with Keanu?” Clara asked.

“You know what, let’s change the subject.”

“No, what’s wrong with him?”

“Ma.”

“Alright, fine. Your father managed to get us Saturday night reservations at Le Minuit, so I’m afraid we’ll be leaving the three of you alone tomorrow.”

“Is this because I insulted your taste in men?” Danny joked.

She laughed, and reached over to pat his arm. “We already had them.”

“That wasn’t exactly a no.”

She smiled serenely and said, “I love you, baby,” before taking a bite of her pancakes. He squinted suspiciously at her, but kept eating.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Someone knocked on the door as Danny wandered out of the kitchen, leaving Steve and Eddie with the breakfast dishes. When he opened it, no-one was there, but a guy was getting into a florist van across the street, and a bunch of hibiscuses and gardenia sat on the doorstep with a note stuck into them – surprisingly healthy considering they’d no doubt been raised in a heated room with a bright sunlamp and a picture of the Pacific Islands on the wall to remind them what they were missing out on. “Steve!” he called out, picking them up and shutting the door. “Come out here!”

A moment later, Steve emerged, drying his hands with a teatowel. “Hmm?”

“You realise sending me flowers is not key to hiding our relationship, right?” he asked, lowering his voice. “Not that I’m not flattered.”

Steve shook his head. “They’re nice flowers, but I didn’t get you flowers.”

“Then what– Clara,” Danny said darkly.

“Could’ve been Eddie,” Steve pointed out.

“No, this has Clara Williams written all over it. And Catherine Rollins, actually. Where is she?”

“Oookay,” Steve muttered, and backed out of Danny’s way as he marched up the stairs.

#

Cath looked up at Danny as he entered the room, still holding the flowers in front of him. “Hey, Danny.”

“What are these? Huh?” he accused, shoving them at her.

She batted a leaf away from her eyes. “I believe they’re commonly called ‘flowers’.”

“Don’t sass me, Rollins.”

Frowning at him, she asked, “Why’re you so riled up over this? Flowers are pretty innocuous, really.”

“I don’t care about the flowers. It’s the note.”

Plucking it out of the bouquet, Cath read out, “ _To remind you of home. Love you, Danno. Xoxo Steve._ What’s wrong with that? I was the one who came up with the idea of tropical flowers, I was quite proud of that. I admit the xoxo is a little out of character, but Clara insisted.”

Danny still had a quiet glower on, so she shut up then. “There are two people in this world,” he started, “who are allowed to call me Danno. There are three people who I would _let_ call me Danno. I love my parents to world’s end, and I love you too, but none of you make it in, even by proxy.”

“Ah.” She paused, then said quietly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise you felt that strongly about it, or I would’ve stopped them from using it.”

He sighed and pulled the flowers out of her face. “Yeah. You know now.”

“Yep. Won’t do it again. To avoid getting stabbed in the eye by a plant, if nothing else.”

He stared at her for a moment in silence, then said, “You know, I can never tell what your motives are.”

Cath shrugged. “You could always just ask me.”

Danny blinked at her without breaking eye contact, and she sobered. “Okay. Danny, I promise that unless it’s in the interest of national security, I will not lie to you. Or Steve. Scout’s honour.”

“Were you a Girl Scout?”

“No, but you were a Boy Scout, so it still applies.”

He frowned. “I’m not sure that it works like that. Also, how did you know I was a Boy Scout?”

“That’s classified.”

“Catherine.”

Her serious expression cracked and she grinned at him. “Steve got me to run background on all three of you when he first recruited you. I didn’t tell him most of it, but I’m sort of incapable of forgetting information.”

“Well, that’s easily the scariest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Sweet of you to say.”

“Promise you won’t use it for nefarious purposes?”

“I never have nefarious purposes.”

“And on the topic of you not being honest–”

She laughed and leant back. “My motives are, I love you both, and I want you to realise that Clara and Eddie will be fine with Steve, and also mildly torture you along the way.”

“Because that’s how you express love.” Danny nodded. “Makes sense.”

“Oh, like you’re any better.”

“Steve did once call complaining my love language.”

She spread her hands. “See? We’re both awful and I don’t know why he puts up with us.”

“Just because he’s a sap doesn’t mean he knows how to express emotions like a normal human being.”

“That’s true.”

Danny sighed. “I should go tell him I didn’t murder you.”

“Like you could if you tried.”

“Fine, I should go tell him you didn’t murder me in self-defence.”

“Better. You do that.” She lifted her book in front of her face. As he walked out of the room, she lowered it slightly to grin at his departing back.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Danny turned around as the front door creaked open behind him and Steve leant out. Steve pointed at the phone with a questioning look, and Danny said, “Hey, Junior, your granddad wants to speak to you.”

“Your father?” Junior asked in confusion from the other end of the line, and Danny laughed.

“No, Steve.”

“You realise you two are the same age, so if he’s a granddad then so are you.”

“Actually, with Ma’s help, we’ve established,” Danny said, waving Steve outside, “that he’s twenty minutes older than me.”

“And twenty minutes wiser,” Steve said, shutting the door behind him.

“Oh, that’s why you keep jumping off all those buildings, huh, it’s the wisdom? Here’s Grandpa,” he said to Junior. He handed the phone over, telling Steve quietly, “Tani’s there too.”

“Hey, Junior, Tani. What’s up? How’s Eddie doing?”

Danny stopped in the doorway for a moment, watching Steve as he sat down on the front steps, his back to Danny, late afternoon light dancing around him. A slightly confused moth fluttered down to land on the step next to him, and he gently coaxed it onto the lavender bush besides the steps with one finger as he laughed at something Junior or Tani said. “Danny told you? Yeah.”

Danny let a soft smile creep onto his face even as he shook his head and turned to go inside.

#

Clara was just coming down the staircase as he shut the door. “Oh, baby, good.”

He leant on the back of the couch and waited for her to walk over. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your and Pop’s date?”

“About that.” She sat down on the coffee table to face him and winced semi-convincingly. “I’ve got a headache coming on, and I don’t think I should be going out. It’ll just make it worse, and I won’t enjoy it anyways.”

“Aw, I’m sorry, Ma,” Danny said, operating on the off-chance that she was telling the truth. “You want me to get you something? Tea? Chocolate?”

Her eyes crinkled up as she smiled fondly at him. “Your father’s already in there making me tea. But I don’t want the reservations to go to waste, you and Steve should take them.”

Uh-huh. “You sure Cath doesn’t want to go?”

“Nah,” Cath said from the top of the stairs, making Danny jump. “I’m still tired from Thursday night. Apparently I don’t have the stamina I used to.”

Danny glared at her, but refrained from calling her a fucking liar in his mother’s presence. “I mean, I’ll have to check with Steve,” he hedged. “He might not want to.”

“Where is he?” she asked, looking around as if he might have somehow snuck into the room in the minute they’d been talking. Which, to be fair, they were talking about his super stealth ninja, so it was not an unreasonable possibility.

“Out front. He’s on the phone with the kids. Junior and Tani.”

“Ah. Why ‘the kids’?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. They’re the kids. According to them, they’re miniature versions of me and Steve.” And he didn’t actually know if Clara knew that Junior and Tani were together. Oh well.

As Clara nodded, the front door creaked open and Danny felt Steve come in behind him. Leaning into him, he dropped the phone over Danny’s shoulder into his hand, then noticed Clara and took a step back, leaning on the couch back next to Danny rather than draping himself over him. Which was mildly disappointing, but good. No point in adding fuel to the fire.

“Hi, Steve,” Clara said softly. “I was just telling Danny, I’ve got a headache and I don’t think I’ll be able to make my and Eddie’s dinner reservations, so you and Danny should take them.”

Steve shared a look with Danny, and Danny shrugged minutely. It was possible that if they just flat out refused that she’d make a miraculous recovery and go, but it was also possible she wouldn’t, and would just get suspicious of why they refused.

“You sure, Clara?” Steve asked, as Eddie came out of the kitchen. He handed Clara a mug, then crouched down besides her. He placed a hand on her knee and shot her a questioning look, and she smiled at him and patted his hand, then wrapped both hands around the mug and said to Steve, “Yes, I’m sure, dear. You two go have a nice dinner.”

“Well, I suppose I should go get changed,” Steve said, looking down at his worn plaid flannel shirt. “It’s a fancy restaurant, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, go make yourself decent,” Danny teased, tugging on his sleeve. Steve blinked at him and grabbed his hand, quickly squeezing it, the entire thing hidden from Clara and Eddie by the couch back. “And practice your manners,” Danny finished, as Steve dropped his hand and walked towards the stairs. He flipped him off behind his back, and Danny grinned and turned back to his parents. “I should get changed too.” He walked around and leant down to kiss Clara on the head. “Hope you feel better, Ma.”

Turning around at the top of the stairs, he saw the two of them leaning into each other with smug grins. He huffed out a breath, and turned to his room.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

“Oh, good god,” Danny said as they entered the restaurant.

“We have a booking for two, under Williams?” Steve told the maitre d’, who nodded and led them inside. The restaurant was moodily lit by sparse bulbs hanging down from the ceiling, surrounded by sparkling gems, and the walls were all decorated in a lowkey cream-and-chocolate palette. The space was organised in such a way that each delicately carved wooden table seemed as if it was in its own little sequestered space, even the ones in the centre of the room. The maitre d’ led them to one of the stylish booths dotted in the corners and along the walls, seated them on the softly cushioned benches, and handed them their menus before whispering off to whatever dimension it was that maitre d’s in this kind of establishment inhabited when they weren’t showing people places.

Steve set down his menu and stared at Danny, who opened his own menu and held it up to cover his face. “Okay, I feel guilty now. And out of place, but mostly guilty. Do you not feel guilty now?”

“She does get migraines,” Danny mumbled. “It might’ve been real.”

“Yeah, but it probably wasn’t. It was way too convenient. You don’t believe in coincidences.”

“I could believe in coincidences if I wanted.”

“Danny.”

“Fine.” He sighed and lowered his menu.

“They gave up their date night and their _very fancy_ reservations–” Steve waved a hand at their surroundings. “–for an entirely pointless mission that we could easily have stopped.”

“They moved date night, actually, to Thursday. If you’ll remember.”

“Yeah, but they still gave up their reservations.”

“They’ll get reservations again, it’s not actually impossible.”

Steve just stared at him, and he shook his head in frustration. “Look, it’s not like we asked them to matchmake. And it’s done now. Just– look at your menu. Enjoy your dinner. They have crème brulee. You can crack the top.”

“Daniel, stop talking to me like I’m five while we’re on a stolen date.”

“You know you wanna crack the top, though.”

“I do want to crack the top, and we will be ordering crème brulee. My point still stands.”

“Uh-huh. What point was that?”

“I–” Steve broke off and opened his menu. “I don’t know, I’m starving. Let’s just order, I’ll argue with you later.”

“That a promise?”

“Yeah. Ooh, lobster.”

“You live in Hawaii and you’re gonna order seafood in Jersey? Good god.”

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Steve slid his credit card back into his wallet, and warned Danny as they got up and walked out, “You now owe me Side Street until– I’m pretty sure until we die.”

“And here I thought you were just finally repaying all the meals I’ve already bought you. Or maybe apologising for leaving me for three months.”

“You would want me to apologise in food,” Steve said, dropping an arm around Danny’s shoulders. “Should we get a cab, or you wanna walk back?”

“Let’s walk. I’ve missed these streets.”

“Alright. Anyway, I thought love meant never having to say you’re sorry.”

“Bullshit,” Danny proclaimed. “What _is_ true is the thing about the way to someone’s heart being through their stomach.”

“I knew you only fell in love with me for my steaks.”

Danny opened his mouth, then shut it again and shook his head. “I’m changing the topic before one of us starts making terrible meat jokes.”

“Good idea. Aren’t you starting to feel bad about lying to Clara and Eddie?”

“Agh.” He didn’t answer properly at first, but Steve was perfectly happy to stay silent as they walked through the city streets. Darkness had practiced its magic, and the landscape was picked out by the light of streetlamps and soaring buildings. Steve would never admit it to Danny, but when he stayed on Hawaii for a long time, he sometimes got to missing these sort of places, the cityscapes that whispered of thousands of people living their lives, all whole and encapsulated and entirely theirs, with their own tangled webs of relationships that you knew would never intersect with yours.

Finally, as office buildings began to give way to apartment blocks and to houses, and they neared the Williams house, Danny hip-checked Steve and said, “Yeah, I do feel kinda bad about it. But it won’t be too much longer, and honestly, it’d just be awkward telling them while they’re still trying to set us up. And it’s not like there’ll be a repeat of tonight, they’re too smart to pull the same con twice.”

Steve sighed. He knew when Danny was set on something, and there was no way he was talking him out of this before they got back to the house. “Okay, honey,” he said instead, and seized the chance to stop him before they turned into the street of the Williams house, and lifted a hand to his face. Danny followed the movement easily, tilting his head up to Steve’s and smiling into the soft kiss.

“Besides,” Danny added, as they pulled apart a moment later and kept walking. “I’d miss stolen kisses.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “You never had a secret teenage love affair?”

“Not from my parents, I was terrible at hiding things from them.”

“You’ve learnt new skills, huh?”

“Apparently. I couldn’t even manage to hide Ricky from the, uh, Scout master,” Danny said, knocking on the front door. “Got me kicked out.”

“Patrol leader.”

He shrugged. “Not bothering to learn the terminology might’ve contributed, I guess.”

Cath opened the door, asking, “What’re we talking about?”

“Ricky Bonaducci.” Danny stepped past her, hanging up his coat, and she threw a questioning look at Steve.

“Teenage boyfriend,” Steve explained. “Of his. Got him kicked out of the Boy Scouts.”

“Oh, right.” She shut the door behind them, and said to Danny, “Doesn’t mention that on your official record.”

“What does it say?”

“Refusing to follow rank and listen to the troop leaders.”

“Yeah, well, I probably did that too. He certainly did.”

She laughed. “Always had a thing for bad boys, eh?”

“Insane people,” he corrected. “I’ve always had a thing for insane people. It’s an unfortunate quirk passed down in the Williams men.”

“Well, boys–” Cath slung one arm across Danny’s shoulders and one across Steve’s, and looked between them. “You’ve survived another night of the Williams Matchmaking Service, so I’d suggest going to your separate beds and preparing for the next round.”

“I think you infected me with that insane-people thing,” Steve said to Danny.

“Hey, you fell for her before you even met me.”

Cath ruffled their hair – grudgingly accepted by Steve, met by Danny with head movements akin to a wild bull attempting to throw someone off its back – and let go of them.

“I’m still blaming you,” Steve told Danny as the three of them ascended the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Re the age thing - I'm going off Alex and Scott's birthdays for Steve and Danny's, since we never get Danny's in-show. technically Alex's is the day after Scott's BUT Alex was born in Canberra and Scott in California, meaning that it's entirely plausible that Alex/Steve was actually born twenty minutes before Scott/Danny. Also I don't know if it was intentional or not but I love that the Big Bang posting dates this year are gathered around their birthdays (23rd and 24th August).


	4. Secrets and Softness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may not know anything about baseball but I Love Kiss-Cam Scenes and I Am Determined Enough To Do The Research

“New Jersey is famed for _two_ things,” Danny declared from his side of the couch, his arms spread across the back of the sofa and managing to take up at least twice the amount of space that he reasonably should be able to.

“…Springsteen and being New York’s shittier cousin?” Steve guessed from the other side of the couch, where he was taking up half the amount of space he reasonably should be able to. Eddie was sitting in the armchair kitty-corner to the sofa, but appeared to be entirely ignoring the conversation in favour of reading the newspaper.

“Come over here so I can slap you,” Danny said.

Steve laughed. “Enticing offer, but no thank you.”

“You’re right about Springsteen, but no. Pizza and baseball. We’ve already covered the first one, but on my life I am taking you to a proper baseball game.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s New York. Both of them.”

Danny levelled a finger at him. “Shut up. Just because you non-mainlanders think everything since Frank Sinatra is about New York doesn’t mean you’re right. We’re going to a Yankees game.”

“Okay, that’s definitely New York. They’re called the New York Yankees.”

“But it’s Jersey _culture_!”

“He’s not wrong,” Eddie said mildly, without looking up from his newspaper.

“Thankyou, Pop.”

“They’re playing the Birds at Yankee Stadium Thursday,” Eddie supplied.

“Orioles? You realise I’m contractually obliged to support them.”

Danny frowned at him. “Wha– Oh, Annapolis.”

“Yeah. I think my first bunkmate might actually hunt me down if I didn’t.”

“Did he go through BUD/S?” Danny asked.

“No.”

“Then you’ll be fine. The much more pressing danger will be from me, who will be sitting right next to you and knows your weak spots.”

“Are you threatening to kill me if I don’t support the Yankees?”

“Nah. Mildly assault you, at most.”

“I know your weak spots too,” Steve pointed out.

“Yeah, but Ma and Pop will be there to back me up.”

“Eddie, would you really help him attack me?”

“Sorry, son, but it is the Yankees.”

“Wow,” Steve chuckled. “Okay, but I think I’m gonna need an official certificate of either adoption or marriage to justify the team switching.”

“I don’t think we can incorporate a new kid so late in life,” Eddie said. “You’re up, Danny.”

Danny glared at Steve, but played along. “You can find a celebrant willing to do it before Thursday, I’ll take one for the team.”

“Aw, I knew you loved me really.”

Danny turned his glare up by ten percent, but Steve just grinned smugly at him.

“I’ll get the tickets,” Eddie volunteered. “The daughter of one of my firey buddies works at the stadium, she’ll be able to hook us up.”

“Sarah?”

“Yeah, you remember her?”

“I had a crush on her when we were kids. Didn’t she get married last year?”

Eddie laughed. “Yeah, and she and her wife are very happy. You never would’ve had a chance.”

“Oh, I know. I think I realised she was gay before she did. Honestly, that was probably why we were close enough for me to have a crush in the first place.”

Coming down the stairs, Clara asked, “Who did you have a crush on?”

“Sarah McEvoy,” Eddie answered.

“Oh, yes, you did.”

“You want help with dinner, Clara?” Steve asked.

“That’d be nice, baby.”

Steve got up and walked around the back of the couch, leaning over to whisper, “I’m baby now,” to Danny before he followed Clara into the kitchen. Danny shook his head.

“You done with the editorials?” he asked Eddie.

Eddie handed the section over. “You wanna get mad, flip to the third page.”

“Thanks, Pop.”

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

When Danny woke up in the middle of Wednesday night, it was with no idea why. But 19 years as a parent had served him well, and after a moment of lying awake, staring at the ceiling, he heard the muffled noises from next door. Cath, who was sprawled out with one arm hanging over the side of her bed and her hair over her face, woke up enough to make a questioning “Mrrmhmph?” when Danny sat up and got out of bed.

“Steve,” he explained. “I’ve got it, go back to sleep.”

“Mrrmnn,” she acknowledged, and rolled over.

Danny padded over to the adjoining door and softly pushed it open. The blankets had been thrown down to the bottom of the bed and Steve lay in a position Danny knew all too well, flat on his back with fists clenched by his sides, the only visible sign of distress aside from repressed whimpers an occasional grimace or twitch of his shoulders. His lashes lay too dark against his usually tanned skin, and that specific sight sent a jolt of something straight to Danny’s heart. He wasn’t sure what exactly – loneliness, melancholy, homesickness by proxy? He didn’t know, but it eased slightly when he leant over and laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder. Steve shot out a sharp breath, chest jumping, then twisted into the touch. After a moment, he blinked awake. “Danny?” he murmured.

“Yeah, babe, I’m here.”

He hummed, and shifted over to one side of the bed. Danny took that as invitation and climbed in next to him, pulling the blankets back over both of them. Steve reached out to him, tugging him closer as he half-sat up. Danny followed him up, leaning against Steve’s shoulder and accepting that he wasn’t getting back to sleep for a while.

“You wanna talk about it, babe?”

Steve’s face twisted. “No, not really.”

“Okay.”

“How do you not get nightmares?”

“They know better than to try.” When there was no reply, Danny looked up. Steve was watching him with a soft focus, and he sighed. “My brain just won’t shut up and let me get to sleep in the first place. You know that.”

“Yeah. It’s a bad combo for you, huh? You can’t go to sleep, and then when you do I wake you up.”

“No. Well, yes, but–” He reached down for Steve’s hand, intertwining their fingers. “But I’d rather wake up than have you go through it alone.”

Steve lifted their joined hands to brush a feather-light kiss across the back of Danny’s. “You’re too–”

“Uh, uh.” Danny clicked his tongue and placed a finger against Steve’s lips with his other hand. “If you’re about to start on some ‘undeserving’ bullshit, don’t bother.”

Steve ducked his head, smiling.

“You know perfectly well that you’re the most devoted person I’ve ever met, let alone been in a relationship with,” Danny continued. “And I’m not about to let your little childhood-military-whatever self-esteem issues start lying to you again. Not about this relationship.”

“Am I allowed to tell you I love you?”

“That’s acceptable.”

“I love you, Danny.”

“I know.”

Steve chuckled. “You’re really going to Han Solo me?”

“Nice to hear you accept that you’re the Princess Leia in this relationship.”

“General of the Resistance? You’re damn right I am.”

“You better not let Tani hear you say that, or she’ll make us do couples costumes next Halloween, and you’ll be stuck with cinnamon rolls on your head.”

Laughing, Steve replied, “She would, wouldn’t she?”

“Of course she would.”

“I miss them, y’know.”

“Yeah.” Danny squeezed Steve’s hand. “I’m just looking forward to going back to Hawaii and living together in peace for a while.”

“You realise as long as you’re around me, peace isn’t really on the cards?”

“Relative peace,” Danny amended, then looked up at Steve’s face and sobered. “Yes, babe, I know being with you in any meaningful way comes with the constant threat of, well, threats. Has three months away really made you forget this whole shtick?”

Steve shook his head minutely from side to side. “Not really. But I think I could stand a reminder.”

Sighing, Danny pushed himself up on one shoulder so he could lean against the bedhead and began running his fingers through the back of Steve’s hair, the motion deliberately engineered to counteract his brusque tone as he recited, “Point 1: I love you. Point 2: we literally met at gunpoint, so really any situation we can find ourselves in is uphill from there. Point 3: it’s already been ten years, who knows how many bullets, and so many injuries that every medical professional on the island recognises us on sight. In fact, I’m pretty sure they specifically teach med students at UoH about us. If I haven’t left yet, do you really think there’s anything left that could trigger it? Point 4: I’ve promised you that I’m never going to leave, and the Williams never break their promises. Point 5: it’s not like I don’t bring my own fair share of threats to the relationship. My life would not exactly be a haven of calm even without you in it. Point 6: I love you.”

“You already said that,” Steve told him, a soft smile resting on his lips.

“Well, it bears repeating.”

“Yeah. Thankyou.”

“You’re welcome. You gonna stop catastrophising now?”

Steve kissed Danny’s forehead and pulled him back to lean against his shoulder. “Ooh, big words,” he teased, which was a far more effective answer than just agreeing would have been.

“Yeah, well, the cold makes me smart,” Danny replied. “The heat makes me dumb, which is why it took me seven years to kiss you.”

“It was six years, and I kissed you.”

“You keep telling yourself that, big man.”

There was a moment of silence, tendrils of warmth weaving their way through the spaces between them, then Steve said abruptly, “It was Wo Fat. And Freddie. Daiyu Mei brought up all the old Wo Fat nightmares, and I think… I think all this has reminded me of Freddie. The hiding. And my subconscious put them together into one dream.”

Danny pushed himself up. “Oh, god, honey. If this has given you nightmares, we can tell them in the morning. Hell, I’ll go wake them up now.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I would’ve had the nightmare anyway, it might’ve just had slightly different content. And Freddie’s not gonna go away now whether we tell them or not.”

“You sure?” Danny asked, frown lines creasing as he watched Steve’s face closely.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“…okay. But just– tell me if you think it’ll help. Or bypass me and tell them, although I would appreciate a heads-up.”

“I promise.”

“Wanna tell me about the rest of the dream?”

Steve swallowed dryly. “I don’t remember most of it. Just, Wo Fat capturing me and Freddie – trying to escape – losing Freddie.” His hand, resting on the bed between him and Danny, began to tremor slightly, and Danny briefly placed a hand on Steve’s chest, over his heart, its beat strong but too fast.

“It’s okay.” 

“Yeah.”

“Hey, look at me.” When he did, bending his head down until their faces rested an inch apart, sharing breath, Danny said, “This is the real world, babe. You’re here.”

“You’re here.”

Danny pushed Steve’s shirt up slightly, resting his hands on the warm skin covering hipbones and lean muscle. It was an unconscious movement, intended as a consolation at most, but Steve responded by sighing deeply and rolling into Danny, running his hands up his sides until Danny raised his arms and allowed him to pull his shirt off. Steve leant up slightly to throw it over the bedhead, then returned to Danny. Newly revived guitar-string callouses felt their way over the soft skin at the bottom of his ribcage, the scratch against smooth pulling at something deep in Danny’s chest, something that had been living there for a decade and that he’d been burying for the last three months.

“You’re my anchor point,” Steve murmured, finishing his earlier thought, and bent his head down to kiss Danny’s bare shoulder. “Always. No matter what.”

Danny mirrored Steve’s earlier sigh, and slipped down in the bed, pulling Steve on top of him. Steve pushed himself up slightly to discard his own shirt, then his weight settled firm over Danny, warm skin and solid mass placed between him and the rest of the world in a way that felt purely and undeniably like it fitted, like something had slotted back into place. Danny breathed in, and let go of himself.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Cath was still half-asleep when Clara and Eddie knocked on the bedroom door the next morning, which is what she blamed for calling out, “Yeah, come in,” without thinking it through. It wasn’t until the two of them had come in, doing a remarkably good impression of bustling for two very non-bustly people, and Eddie had pointed at Danny’s empty bed with a questioning noise, that she registered her mistake.

“Oh, uh. Steve had a nightmare last night,” she explained, sitting up. “Danny went in to wake him up.” First rule of espionage: if you can tell the truth, do.

“And he’s still in there?” Eddie asked.

“…I guess so.” He’d obviously fallen asleep without thinking it through. Or rather, without Steve thinking it through, because–

“We just came in because Steve mentioned you and he had an appointment at 9:30 in the city, and it’s almost 9 now,” Clara explained.

Yeah. Crap.

“Should I go wake him?” Clara asked, casting a glance at the closed door.

“No, no, it’s fine, I’ll do it,” Cath said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and pulling her jumper down from the bedhead.

Clara continued looking at the door for a moment, then tore her gaze back to Cath and nodded.

“You sure?” Eddie asked, and Cath bit down on her grin. Clearly at some point after his initial reluctance, he’d become as invested in this as Clara was.

“Yeah. Thanks, guys.”

Once the door was securely closed behind the two of them, Cath got up and walked over to the adjoining door, pushing it open. Both of them were sleeping peacefully, Steve on his back with Danny curled into his side. And Danny’s shirt was draped over the bedhead, so it was a damn good thing she hadn’t let Clara and Eddie wake them up. Even she would have struggled to come up with a good explanation for that.

“Steve,” she said quietly, and Steve hummed and opened his eyes. “It’s almost nine.”

“Mm-hmm,” he said, nodding at her, and gently shifted Danny off and onto the pillow. When Danny grunted unhappily at the movement, he smoothed a hand over his hair and muttered, “All good, honey, go back to sleep.”

“Hmm,” Danny agreed, and turned over. Steve huffed out a quiet laugh, then waved a hand at Cath as he sat up.

“Meet you downstairs,” he whispered.

She gave him a thumbs-up and backed out of the room, heading downstairs to food and coffee.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Clara and Eddie were both in the kitchen when Danny wandered down, sitting on the barstools with coffee mugs in front of them.

“G’morning, Ma, Pop,” he muttered, giving each of them a quick hug before heading for the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup. Once he’d downed it and was slightly more awake, he poured himself another cup and went over to lean on the bench across from them.

“Where did Steve and Cath go?” he asked.

“They just said they were going into the city,” Clara said.

“At 9am?” He had registered that much when Cath had come in that morning.

“They had an appointment somewhere,” Eddie said. “Didn’t say where.”

“Huh. They gonna be back in time for the game?”

“Better be.” Just as Eddie said that, there was a knock at the front door. Danny put his mug down.

“I’ll get it.”

Steve and Cath were both bundled up in their coats, Steve’s hands shoved deep into the pockets of his as they burst past him and inside.

“Hello to you two as well,” Danny said, shutting the door on the gust of cold air. “Where’ve you been?”

Steve widened his eyes at him but kept his mouth shut as he stamped his feet on the ground. Danny looked at Cath, who shrugged. She grabbed Steve’s arm and began pulling him upstairs, both of them still in their coats.

“This is not a matter of national security!” he called.

“And I’m not lying!” she called back over her shoulder.

He threw his hands in the air, and went back to his coffee.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

Steve stretched in his seat, rubbing his hands together for warmth. “You know what, I’m switching back to the Birds.”

“Hey, game’s not over yet,” Danny said. “We’re gonna make a comeback.”

“Uh-huh,” Cath said unbelievingly.

“Get outta here,” Danny told her.

She stood up. “Okay. Anyone else want drinks? Hot dogs?”

Danny waved a hand. “Get me a pretzel.”

“Water would be nice,” Clara said.

Eddie and Steve shook their heads, so she edged out of the row and began walking up. A few rows from the top, a few of the people around her let out a cheer, and she turned back around. The kiss-cam was up, and zooming in on an older couple sitting with a woman who must’ve been their daughter. They sheepishly grinned at the camera, then at each other. The woman leant over and said something to them, and they both laughed, and gave each other a quick peck on the lips. The chatter of the crowd followed Cath out as she turned back and jogged up the last couple of steps.

#

Coming back down, Clara’s bottle of water stuck into her coat pocket, Cath was focused on watching her hands – holding her drink and Danny’s pretzel in one and her hot dog in the other – and the steps. A cheer rose up around her as someone else succumbed to the kiss-cam. As that noise died down and the cam presumably moved on, she registered, in her peripheral vision, a young man nudging his friend in the side and pointing up to the screen. She glanced up, and stopped walking when she saw their section up on the screen, framed by the giant heart cutout.

“Come on, come on,” she muttered under the breath. It continued to pan, then froze as the operator picked someone. It swept in, and she let out a whoop as Steve and Danny appeared on the screen, Eddie and Clara grinning smugly next to them.

Zoomed up on the big screen, she could see the two of them turn and shrug minutely at each other, and she caught her breath, waiting. When Danny raised a hand to Steve’s cheek and they both leant in to the other, she threw her hands in the air. The people in the seats around her jumped slightly and stared at her as she cheered at the top of her lungs, and she’d sloshed half her drink onto the ground, but it was worth it when she saw Steve pull back from what had been a _much_ more intense kiss than the ritual sacrifice of the kiss-cam demanded and twist around in his seat to search for where she was standing. The cam cut out a moment later, going back to the scoreboard, but the grin stayed on her face as she jogged back down to their seats.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

“We’ll go get the car,” Clara said as they walked out of the stadium, and tugged Eddie off in the direction of the carpark.

“Okay, there’s no way that was a coincidence,” Steve said, looking at Cath. She shrugged, leaning back against the wall.

“I didn’t know anything about that,” she said truthfully.

“Sarah,” Danny said. “I’m betting Pop asked her for help with more than tickets.”

“You think she’d have done it?” Steve asked.

“You know that thing I said about falling for insane people? And having a crush on her? Yeah. She would’ve done it with glee.”

“Looked like you did it with glee,” Cath teased.

“Yeah, well, that was sorta fun. Ma and Pop looked so happy.”

“You know what’d make them even happier, then?” she replied casually.

Danny huffed a sigh, and looked at Steve. Cath knew without even looking that Steve had on those adorably uncalculated puppy dog eyes he got whenever he wanted something but didn’t want to ask for it. They were clearly as effective on Danny as they had been on Cath before she made a point of building up immunity, because he sighed again and turned back to Cath.

“This is not because of you,” he said to her. “Don’t go getting any grand ideas.”

She hummed noncommittally and placed her hand palm-up on the wall between her and Steve. Danny rolled his eyes, and paused a minute before finally saying, “Alright. We can tell them.”

Grinning, Steve low-fived Cath against the wall.

“You’re both insufferable, you know?” Danny told them.

“We know,” Cath replied.

“And yet you suffer us,” Steve added.

“Uh-huh.”

Before he could formulate a better comeback, Eddie pulled the car up in front of them. Cath opened the passenger door and jumped in, the smile on her lips only partially due to getting the last word in.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

“Hey, Pop,” Danny said, walking back into the dining room after putting the last of the dinner dishes in the sink. Clara was leaning towards Steve, clearly having some semi-intense discussion, but she almost leapt back when he entered the room. Danny shrugged internally and let it go. About the only thing that would jolt him at this point was if one of them grew wings and started to fly. “I think the tart’s ready,” he told Eddie.

“Ah, okay, I’ll go serve it up,” he said, pushing his chair out.

“I’ll get the cutlery,” Steve volunteered, jumping up and following him into the kitchen. Danny frowned at his back, but took his seat between Cath and Steve’s now-empty chair. He could feel whatever it was that Cath and Steve – and apparently now also his parents – were hiding from him hanging in the air, but the secret didn’t feel heavy or ominous, so he let it hang there, content to sit back and listen to the clatters from the kitchen as Eddie and Steve moved around.

A few minutes later, Eddie walked back in carrying his tart, followed by an unaccountably nervous-looking Steve holding plates and cake forks.

“You ever made this tart before, Pop?” Danny asked. Baking was one of the Designated Hobbies that he and Clara had decided he should keep, but he was fairly sure pastry was a new step.

“I’ve done similar ones, but not this exact one,” Eddie replied, placing it in the middle and beginning to cut it as Steve went around, doling out plates and forks, starting with Cath. “But your mother bought too many apples, so–” He shrugged. “I found a recipe.”

As Steve placed Danny’s slice in front of him and sat down, Cath snorted suddenly. “We got this close to having baseball and apple pie in the same day. How very All-American of us.”

“Good thing we only got as far as apple tart,” Danny said wryly, picking up his fork. Something clinked, and he looked down. Spinning on the table, having just fallen off his fork, was a simple braided silver ring, reflecting the dining room light above. He frowned down at it in confusion. Picking it up, a slightly wild thought about napkin rings passed through his head before Cath nudged him in the side and he turned to see Steve’s chair pushed back, Steve himself kneeling where it had been.

“What– oh my god–” Danny exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Oh my god, you idiot, this is not what I meant by ‘okay, let’s tell them’! This is– I–”

“Hey,” Steve interjected, a soft smile on his face. He reached up and took the ring from where Danny was still loosely holding it. “Danny Williams.”

“Yeah?”

“Will you marry me?”

Danny’s hands collapsed out of mid-air, and he reached down to grasp Steve’s shoulders, all the bluster falling out of him. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you. I thought that was a given the moment you got down on one knee. C’mere. Of course I’ll marry you. I love you.”

Steve rose to his feet, and Danny moved to wrap his arms around Steve’s waist and gently kiss him. After a moment, he leant back and looked at Clara over his shoulder. She might’ve actually had a bigger smile on than Steve did, although Danny couldn’t speak for whether it was bigger than his own.

“Hey, Ma, do you have the–”

She nodded, and pushed her chair out, walking out of the room.

“What–?” Steve asked, but Danny cut him off with a finger on his lips.

“Shhh. Kiss me, you mad fool.”

“Whatever you say.”

Eddie and Cath let them rest inside their own little bubble for a few minutes before Cath spoke up. “Hey, Steve, you gonna actually put the ring on him?”

“If you heckle at the wedding, I’m gonna get you thrown out,” Danny warned her, but gave Steve his left hand. As he slipped it onto his ring finger, the metal warmed from his grasp, Cath said,

“You wouldn’t throw me out yourself? I’m hurt.”

“I’m not an idiot. I’d get Junior to do it, he’s young and SEAL-trained.”

Clara re-entered the room as Cath nodded thoughtfully, and handed over Grandma Rose’s engagement ring and its masculine diamond chips. Taking it, Danny tapped Steve’s chest and held it up. “Steve McGarrett, will you marry me?”

Steve burst out laughing. “You couldn’t let it go down in prosperity that I was the one who proposed to you, huh?”

“Absolutely not,” Danny agreed, grinning back at him.

“Yes, Danny, I’ll marry you. I proposed first, though. And I have witnesses.”

“I saw nothing,” Cath said solemnly.

Steve made a face at her over Danny’s shoulder, then looked back at Danny as he took Steve’s hand and slid the diamond ring onto it. He pulled him closer again, and Danny rested his cheek against his shoulder.

“Oh my god,” he mumbled into the crook of Steve’s shoulder. “Have you been planning this all along? This is why you came to Jersey, isn’t it?”

“Sorta,” Steve affirmed. “The plan was to come here, get your parents’ blessing, and come home and propose. But then Clara said something, and I realised I didn’t know if they knew about us, and then you didn’t want to tell them–”

“–and this is why you kept pressing me to–”

“–so it all got a bit complicated.”

“Did anyone else know?”

Cath stuck her hand up at the table, and Danny continued, without looking at her, “Besides her, obviously.”

“Yeah, Junior does, because I had to get him to get your ring measurement.”

“I _knew_ the things on my bedside table were out of place that night. The damn bastard roundly denied it.”

“Yeah, sorry, he was looking for your old wedding ring. All in a good cause.”

“And I don’t suppose this had anything to do with why you disappeared this morning.”

“Had to pick up the ring.”

Eddie cleared his throat. “Not to diminish the moment, but are we going to eat my tart?”

Danny chuckled, and kissed Steve quickly before backing off and sitting down, taking his fork up. Steve smiled stupidly at thin air for a moment, then took his own seat.

“It’s very nice, Pop,” Danny confirmed.

“Thankyou, son.”

Danny waved his fork at Clara and Eddie. “And how long have you two known about this?”

“About two hours,” Clara replied.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I told them after we got home from the game,” Steve confirmed.

“You really did this whole thing on speedrun, huh? Typical.”

“I _have_ been planning it for months.”

“Hey,” Cath piped up, waiting till Steve turned to look at her to continue. “You know that if I’m not in the bridal party, I’m going to slip my cyanide capsule into your wine at the wedding, right?”

He laughed, and nodded. “Yes, dear. I can’t promise you best woman, though, I think Mary might protest.”

“Oh god, how are we gonna divide up the team?” Danny said.

“Eeny meeny miney mo?” Cath suggested.

“You’ll have to give us lots of warning so we can book flights in plenty of time,” Clara said. “And you know Eric will want to have an official role somewhere.”

“Photographer?” Steve said.

“Ooh yes, he’d like that.”

“He’d like DJ more,” Eddie said.

“Yeah, but as much as I love the dude, I’m not putting him in charge of the music,” Steve objected.

Danny sat back and watched his family make plans that would inevitably fall apart five minutes into their execution, and smiled.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

**_About two hours ago_ **

“So, yeah,” Steve finished, nervously watching Clara and Eddie, seated next to each other on the couch, from his perch on the coffee table. “It was never that he _wanted_ to hide anything from you, exactly.”

“I know,” Clara said tolerantly. “He gets strange ideas into his head sometimes. You did the right thing letting it play out.”

Steve looked at Eddie, who shrugged. “I’m just happy we were right.”

Steve laughed.

“Why is it just you telling us this, though, if he agreed to?” Eddie asked.

“Uh, that’s the second part.” They both watched him as he got up and went over to the hallstand, pulling something out of the pocket of his coat hanging there. He walked back around, and held it up the silver ring for them to see. “I’m planning on proposing.”

“Oh!” Clara held a hand to her heart and turned to Eddie, smiling. “Oh, that’s excellent.”

“I think so. And I wanted your help. I want to do it at dinner tonight, before he knows I’ve told you.”

Eddie grinned, and Clara chuckled quietly. “He was right,” Clara said.

“Hmm?”

“You are a bastard, and you do like surprising him.”

Steve laughed and nodded. “Yeah. How’s he gonna know I love him if I don’t periodically give him a heart attack?”

“Of course we’ll help,” Eddie said. “I think we owe it to you by now.”

Clara nodded in agreement. “Whatever it is, we’re happy to help.”

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50265693273/in/dateposted-public/)

“ _Flight HAL471 to Honolulu now boarding at Gate 12.”_

“I love you, guys,” Danny said, hugging Eddie and then Clara. “I promise you’ll see me sooner this time.”

Clara patted his cheek. “We better. And don’t forget to call as soon as you set a wedding date.”

“Yeah, yeah, Ma. We will.”

Steve and Cath each hugged both of them as the line began to move. “We’ll see you soon too?” Clara asked Steve, who nodded.

“Absolutely.”

“And we’ll see you at the wedding,” Eddie said to Cath. She nodded, and hauled her bag onto her shoulder.

“C’mon guys, we should board,” she told Steve and Danny. They both picked up their bags. Danny kissed each of his parents on the cheek, then the three of them joined the line.

As they reached the check-in agent, Steve took Danny’s free hand. Danny glanced back over his shoulder at Clara and Eddie. Both of them waved at him, and Danny lifted their joined hands to wave back, rings shining in the bright terminal light.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189851933@N05/50266489227/in/dateposted-public/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may, at some point, add an epilogue of the team meeting them in Honolulu Airport but in the meantime.... thankyou for reading and adios, ladles and gentleworms.


End file.
